Pope Francis calls for peace in Syria during historic Middle East trip

Pope Francis called for urgent steps to end Syria's three-year-old civil war as he arrived in neighbouring Jordan on Saturday, starting a Middle East trip aimed at bringing hope to the region's dwindling Christian population.

Addressing Jordan's King Abdullah on his first visit as pope to the Holy Land, Pope Francis praised the Western-backed kingdom for its efforts to "to seek lasting peace for the entire region".

"This great goal urgently requires that a peaceful solution be found to the crisis in Syria, as well as a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," he said, departing from his prepared text to describe the king as "an artisan for peace".

More than 160,000 people have been killed in Syria's conflict and millions have fled to neighbouring countries, including Jordan. The refugees are from all faiths, but Christians feel threatened by radical Sunni Muslims now leading the military insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad.

After meeting King Abdullah, Francis held a Mass in an Amman stadium and was later due to meet some of those Syrian refugees in Bethany on the Jordan, the place where according to tradition Jesus was baptised, as well as others who fled violence in Iraq.

Francis, leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, will also use the trip to appeal to members of all religions to work together for peace.

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"Religious freedom is in fact a fundamental human right and I cannot fail to express my hope that it will be upheld throughout the Middle East and the entire world," he said.

At the Jordanian stadium where Francis delivered the Mass, an enthusiastic crowd of around 20,000 endured high heat to listen to the pope speak from a platform shaded by a canopy in the yellow and white colours of the Vatican, and flanked by pictures of the pope and the king.

But alongside their celebrations, some expressed fears for their future in a region where Christianity is rooted.

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Thamer Boulus, a 45-year-old Iraqi teacher, said he fled the city of Mosul with his family because he was receiving death threats as a Christian. "I want to immigrate anywhere there is safety for me and my family. Religious extremism is threatening Christians," he said.

Ahead of his visit, the Vatican said Francis wanted to travel in a normal car and would eschew bulletproof vehicles. He travelled from the airport in a modest white car and arrived at the stadium on the back of an open-topped vehicle.

On Sunday morning Francis flies by helicopter to Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, making a six-hour visit to what the Vatican's official programme calls "the State of Palestine," a terminology Israel rejects.

In 2012, the Vatican angered Israel by supporting a vote in the United Nations General Assembly to grant Palestinians de facto statehood recognition. Israel argues such a move should only come through negotiations.

Palestinians regard the pope's visit, and the fact that he is flying in directly from Jordan instead of going through Israel's security barrier from Jerusalem, as a major morale boost. Jordan, a majority of whose population is of Palestinian origin, signed a peace accord with Israel 20 years ago.

To underscore his conviction that all three great monotheistic faiths can live together in the region and help to tackle the political stalemate, Francis has enlisted a rabbi and an Islamic leader to be part of a travelling papal delegation for the first time.